Pressure or force is a necessary evil in most electronic packages. In order for an electrical circuit to be made, mechanical connections between electric terminals or contacts is required. In general, of course, the higher the number of electrical connection to be made, the greater the force that is needed. In the case of delicate land grid array (LGA) printed circuit cards and boards having hundreds or thousands of electrical contacts, however, great contacting force can be counterproductive. That is, small and delicate pads, lands, and contacts must withstand appreciable forces applied thereto. The present state of the art packages produced by the Assignee of the present invention include 5,448 contacts, each of which requires 60 g. of force to ensure a proper reliable electrical connection.
Another problem with applying forces to electrical contacts, especially around the periphery of a LGA connector, is the unequal application and mismatch of such force, sometimes resulting in skewing of the components. This results in better connections along a certain portion of the bank of contacts than along another portion thereof.